FOUR years ago Robbie Kruse's fledgling career was in tatters. Late nights out. Fights. Didn't train right. Didn't eat right. A bad attitude and a bad reputation; not just among his peers and coaches but increasingly among fans, who'd heard one too many stories about his late-night antics in Brisbane.

But tonight an older, wiser, faster and, frankly, better Robbie Kruse on and off the field, stands up as the man to lead Australia to the promised land: a fourth World Cup.

Most Socceroos fans don't know much about Kruse. He shares his name with a Hollywood star. He looks like a boy among men. He's the one on the Socceroos posters around town who's not Tim Cahill, Lucas Neill or Mark Schwarzer. And he's the one who seems to have more speed, more talent and more confidence than any Australian footballer since Harry Kewell burst on the scene with Leeds.

Ability has never been the problem for Kruse. When he made his debut for the Roar in the A-League he stood out immediately among the team's talented group of young players.

"You could see he had a great technique and was a bit fearless," recalls Fox Sports football presenter Adam Peacock.

"Unfortunately, off the park he was a bit fearless, too. And therein lay the problem."

Kruse's raw pace, confidence to dribble around defenders and eye for goal eventually came in a distant second behind his attitude. It was poor. He didn't have his mind on the job. Frank Farina, his coach at the time, made no secret that Kruse was in the bad books.

"Robbie's had a few problems and a few issues and his football's suffered for it. To make mistakes is human but to continue to do it is stupid."

Eventually, he was cut loose from the club altogether.

"Everyone realised that he needs to get out of Brisbane," Peacock adds. "Sometimes it just doesn't work out. Everyone realises it's time to make a change and that's what happened with Robbie.

"It may be that it dropped with him last. [But] senior players and coaches saw it coming."

Melbourne Victory gave Kruse the second chance he needed to revitalise his career. Under then-coach Ernie Merrick and some seasoned veterans, Kruse pulled his head in off the park and eventually re-established himself as a quality starter in the league. The turning point came against his old club.

"Brisbane roughed him up a bit and he seemed to handle it OK," Peacock says. "It looked harsh but that no doubt helped him."

"He got his head pulled in by a few senior players down there to make the most of the talent that he's got. In terms of him wanting to go out and be a normal young bloke - that doesn't equate to being a professional footballer. You can't act like a normal young bloke unfortunately. You've got to act like you're 40 and not 20."

His second A-League coming inevitably culminated in a move abroad to Germany where he still plies his trade in the Bundesliga, one of Europe's top leagues. The huge learning curve in Melbourne doubled again in a foreign land, and Kruse again found himself up against it.

Homesickness, a brutal training regime and the viciously competitive nature of elite football all took their toll. He nearly quit; he didn't, and now he's looking forward to Champions League football with his new club, Bayer Leverkusen.

"He had a bit of trouble adapting how they go about things. He wasn't the first to go over and find a battle," Peacock adds. "Eventually he adjusted and the talent that he's got and when he put everything to go with it - application and everything else off the field - good things followed."

What makes Kruse stand out for the Socceroos is the same quality which in his junior years steered him off track: fearlessness. He's fearless with the ball at his feet. He's fearless when he runs at defenders twice his size. He doesn't second-guess himself when he makes a game-breaking run into space or squaring the ball to a teammate bearing down on goal.

Source: News Limited

Last week he was clearly the best player on the pitch in Australia's 4-0 rout of Jordan. He set up goals for seasoned campaigners Mark Bresciano and Cahill, then fittingly scored the third himself.

Though his two assists best exemplified his value to the Socceroos, he truly showed off all of his tricks with his own score; weaving through experienced defenders with fleet-of-foot before catching the goal-keeper off-guard with a direct shot - nutmegged through the last-man's legs.

Tonight's match against Iraq is the Socceroos' chance to seal qualification for next year's World Cup and scratch Australia's name on the 32-team draw in Brazil. And Kruse, a 24-year-old whose career was all but over four years ago, is the key to victory.

"He's got an engine now that he didn't used to have. He's now preparing well, eating well, physically at his peak and not stuffing around off the park," Peacock says.

"These guys have to live like monks, but on the park the rewards are endless.

"He's playing Champions League now; a couple of years ago he was kicked out of an A-League club. That shows you the transformation."

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